Hiroshima, Part 2

It's no secret that Jay and I get incredibly excited about food. Especially when we're travelling. Whether it's pizzas in Napoli, or momos in Kathmandu, we love sinking our teeth into the specialties of different cities. So when Jay's sister and brother-in-law, Erin and Rob, mentioned that we HAVE to try the okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, we were very happy to oblige.

Trying some of the local sweets, which are filled with various flavours such as chocolate, custard and red bean.

Prior to visiting Hiroshima, we knew okonomiyaki as Japanese savoury pancakes. We'd eaten them with various ingredients such as cabbage, spring onions and dried seaweed mixed into a batter, cooked, and topped with delicious sauces. As you can imagine, they're positively delicious so we were excited to try the ones in Hiroshima.  

Jay and I heard about a five storeyed building in Hiroshima with hundreds of stalls solely dedicated to this Japanese culinary delight - an okonomiyaki Mecca if you will - so we headed straight for there at our first opportunity.

At this building, each floor is made up of a number of square-shaped stalls, with a U-shaped bench around its perimeter where the customers sit (refer to image below). This bench also doubles up as a giant hotplate that the okonomiyaki are cooked on. As it was late in the afternoon when we arrived, most of the stalls had shut. However, the one in the back corner was still open, so we joined a few of the locals who were already there. The owner/chef was an older man, and to our delight we found out that he had been making okonomiyaki for 50 years. We figured we were in safe hands.

The layout of our okonomiyaki restaurant

Having had okonomiyaki previously, we were confident that it would be a quick and easy meal to prepare, which suited us just fine because we were very hungry by this stage. The owner's ample experience only added to our confidence that we would be in and out of there quickly. However it was clear that the chef had other ideas about the running of his restaurant when forty minutes in we were still no closer to eating our okonomiyaki. Instead, the chef was unnervingly unhurried in preparing our food, answering constant phone calls and fetching drinks for the other customers in between.

The long wait wasn't our only surprise. As the chef was preparing our okonomiyaki, it became clear that we wouldn't be served the batter-filled pancakes we'd previously been accustomed to. Instead, these ones had the ingredients piled on top of each other, with only a small amount of batter keeping it all together. We started to panic – we'd come all this way to try okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, and we'd visited a restaurant offering their own wacky version of it. We were failures.

Our very experienced chef

These were all for us (they weren't)

Almost an hour later, our okonomiyaki were finally ready to be eaten. Despite not being what we thought we'd be eating, the wait was worth it as they turned out to be bloody delicious. Eating them straight off the hotplate only added to the enjoyment of the whole experience. 

An Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. 

To our great pleasure and relief, we did find out that the style of okonomiyaki served to us was actually the signature style of Hiroshima (the other type are known as Osaka style ones), so we weren't failures after all. In fact, it turns out they were hands down, the best okonomiyaki we had our entire trip. High-five!

We also visited Miyajima, a mountainous island off the coast of Hiroshima. Miyajima has a torii gate that rather spectaularly looks like it's floating on water at high tide.

The Torii of Miyajima at Itsukishima Shrine

Itsukishima Shrine

Hi deer. Deers are everywhere in Miyajima.

Another activity recommended to us by Erin and Rob (thanks guys!!), was the hike up Mount Misen, the tallest mountain in Miyajima. We were  keen to give our bodies a bit of a work out after all of the food we'd been eating, so we made our way up one of the trails. 

One thing we've found in Japan is that the signs will often lead you 90% towards your intended destination. You generally need to work out the last 10% for yourself. This is quite ironic for a country that is so highly organised, particularly as this final 10% can be surprisingly difficult to work out, causing us to become lost a number of times. Hence on this occasion, we accidentally found ourselves at a beautifully tranquil Buddhist temple; complete with incense, chanting and rugged-up Buddha statues.

Re-orienting ourselves, we got back on track, and recommenced our climb upwards. As expected, it was a steep, and at times quite tiring, walk. Actually, it was very tiring - we were huffing and puffing and giving our bodies a proper, sweat inducing workout.

Back on track

Eventually we reached a rest area near the top of the summit, feeling thoroughly exhausted. However, it just so happened that another couple were taking a breather in the same area too - a Japanese husband and wife who were well into their seventies, if not eighties. The couple had just climbed the same arduous trail that we had, yet were a good half a century older than us. Surprisingly, they looked more refreshed than we did. After chatting to them briefly and asking for their advice on longevity, Jay translated that the couple lived on a simple but healthy Japanese diet and exercised regularly. That was it. They were  living proof that a healthy and wholesome lifestyle, such as their Japanese one, pays off. If there was ever motivation for adopting such a lifestyle they were it. So, after bidding this friendly couple sayonara, Jay and I conquered the last leg of our climb, completely inspired by the couple we'd just met.

We made it!

The not-too-shabby view from the top, with Hiroshima on the right handside

Spot the deer

Deciding that we'd worked hard enough on the way up, we opted for the less arduous way down via the cable lift. Needless to say it came with its own challenges: I was terrified during the ride.

Finally, I'll finish off by celebrating the absolute brilliance of modern Japanese toilets. Because they've truly been a source of enjoyment for me on this trip, and are quite simply the most superior, ichiban toilets I've ever used in my entire life. And to me, that's quite the achievement. So, without further ado, here is why Japanese toilets are incredible works of engineering to be marvelled at:

1. You can push a button that plays music when you're using the toilet. Perfect for those not wanting their business to be heard by others.
2. The bidet. It's surprisingly pleasant (warm water) and convenient (decreases wiping time). 
3. Warm toilet seats. Incredible. Especially during wintertime. It's one of those things that you don't realise you've been missing out on until you've experienced it. But once you do, you don't know how you'll cope without it ever again.

These points may not seem all that impressive in isolation, but they've honestly made a world of difference for me throughout this trip. Thus, I'm seriously considering having a Japanese toilet installed into our home if our landlord permits it.

Another sight to be marvelled - the stunning Hiroshima Castle

Hiroshima, Part 1

Imagine a warm, clear, beautiful summer's morning. You may be ready to start an ordinary day's work. Or waiting for school to begin with the rest of your classmates. Or simply at home with your family. The date is the 6th of August 1945 and you live in Hiroshima. It gets to 8.15am. And everything changes forever as history's first atomic bomb is dropped on your city. 

A recovered watch from the time the A-bomb struck Hiroshima at 8.15am.

From where you're positioned, you see an immense, bright, yellow light as the bomb goes off. Its intensity is so strong that even shadows disappear. Although you have ducked for cover, you are still pounded by the explosively powerful force of the bomb, as well as its extreme, charring heat. You don't realise this at the time, but this heat has melted your skin. Later, one survivor will describe this moment as 'like being roasted alive many times over'*. If that isn't enough, an all-encompassing sound, louder than anything you've heard before, blasts through your ears and engulfs the city as the buildings come crashing down. All of this happens within a matter of seconds. And then chaos erupts as the realisation of what has happened hits those who are still conscious, with life resuming, never to be the same again.**

Drawing by Horikoshi Susumu, 6 years old in August 1945.
Image from http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945/gz_essay02.html 

Making my way through the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, it's difficult to imagine the horrors that Hiroshima's people were confronted with in the bomb's aftermath. Photographs lining the walls of the museum help to tell the story of the heartbreaking devastation caused to these innocent victims: civilians with charred, blackened skin; others with hair burnt off; and some with severely disfigured bodies. It's difficult not to look away from these confronting images, and despite being a keen history enthusiast, I guiltily do so a couple of times as the pain and torment evoked from the pictures is too much to take in at once.

Drawing by Matsumura Kazuo , 32 years old in August 1945. Image from http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945/gz_essay04.html

Hiroshima was the first choice out of three other Japanese cities for the atomic bomb to be dropped on (Nagasaki was bombed three days later). Hiroshima was chosen as it had been relatively untouched during the war. With this being the first ever use of a nuclear weapon during wartime, it was important to record the magnitude of damage caused by the bomb as accurately as possible, making this untouched city a prime target. Tragically, it was innocent civilians who were the targets of this attack; an attack which brought the Pacific War to its end. The total number of victims has been difficult to determine, but it's estimated that 70,000 people were killed instantly, and another 70,000 people died within five years of the bomb due to radiation. Not to mention the thousands of other victims who died from diseases relating to radiation years later. One such victim was Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima and was two years old when the bomb struck. She died of leukemia in 1955, and has since become a symbol of innocent victims of war.

A memorial for Sadako was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in 1958. She is holding a golden crane. When Sadako learnt of her illness, she made a goal of folding 1000 paper cranes, based on the ancient Japanese story which grants a wish to anyone who completes this task. 

Later, as I'm walking around Hiroshima, I still feel stunned by the fact that merely sixty eight years earlier this city was completely obliterated. None of the high rise buildings around me existed. The beautifully expansive park I was walking through earlier was unrecognizable and reduced to ash. In fact, it was thought that no plants would grow in Hiroshima for at least 75 years following the a-bomb. But the trees and plants lining the streets and pathways of the city prove otherwise. 

Past and present: Genbaku Dome in the foreground with Hiroshima's cityscape behind

Nevertheless, reminders of this harrowing event are still dispersed throughout the city. Nothing acts as more of a haunting reminder than the looming skeleton of the infamous Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome. This dome, which was formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, was the only structure left standing in the vicinity of where the bomb was dropped. Cruelly, despite the building's survival, everyone inside it was killed at the time.

The remains of Genbaku Dome today

But thanks to the optimistic spirit and sheer resilience of its people, Hiroshima has been rebuilt into the bustling and vibrant metropolis that it is today. Within this bustle and vibrancy is also a city that has not forgotten its heartbreaking past, promoting 'Peace' to the rest of the world. From commemorative monuments like The Gates of Peace which state 'Peace' on them in 49 different languages; to the establishment of the Mayors for Peace organisation which urges world leaders to abolish the use of nuclear weapons, Hiroshima is clearly a city that has dedicated itself to living and promoting a legacy of peace. As such, it was a wonderful city to visit and spend a few days in - we'll have more stories from there for you soon.

A passing security officer pays his respects to the victims of the atomic bomb at The Memorial Cenotaph, which holds the names of all of the known people killed by the bomb.

The inscription from another monument reads, 'Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombings, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons.'

* taken from the testimony of Takehiko Sakai, http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hibakusha/Takehiko.shtml
** inspired by testimonies taken from the following websites:  http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/hiroshima.htm; http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hibakusha/